Background to the Ulverscroft/IFLA Awards
The Ulverscroft Foundation was established in 1973 by Dr Fred Thorpe, OBE, the founder of Ulverscroft Large Print Books Limited, which he formed in 1964. ULPB is the major supplier of large print books to libraries in the UK and has expanded to become a major commercial supplier of a range of alternative format books in the UK and around the world. Having established a successful organisation for the supply of alternative format reading material Dr Thorpe was keen to address the other challenges faced by visually impaired people around the world by ploughing back the profits from his successful business enterprises. Consequently, the Ulverscroft Foundation has funded many hundreds of medical, social and library schemes/projects designed to serve the needs of visually impaired people world-wide.
The IFLA: LBS is the international body which seeks to promote national and international co-operation to improve access to information and reading materials for blind and other print handicapped people. Established in 1983 it has 86 member organisations across the world. IFLA: LBS has published "Guidelines for Library Service to Braille Users", "The International Directory of Libraries for the Blind" and is currently finalising "Libraries for the Blind in the Information Age: Guidelines for Development". It holds a Conference every 2 years.
22 February 2008
The Ulverscroft Foundation and the IFLA Libraries for the Blind Section are pleased to announce the outcome of their 2008 Awards Programme. The Foundation and IFLA LBS have cooperated since 2003 in making a series of individual and organisational awards to promote the enhancement of library services for visually impaired people worldwide.
The 2008 Awards Programme attracted 7 bids for an individual award and 7 bids for an organisational award. The judging panel which comprised Allan Leach, Chair of the Ulverscroft Foundation, Dick Tucker, formerly Deputy Director of the Force Foundation, and David Owen, formerly Director of Share The Vision and a trustee of the Ulverscroft Foundation and Force Foundation, UK met on 20.02.08 and decided to make the following awards:
Individual Awards.
Hélène Kudzia of the Médiathèque de l’Association Valentin Haüy [AVH], Paris, £1500 to spend 20 days at the Library of the Deutsche Blindenstudienanstalt, Marburg, Germany.
Hosein Rohani Sadr of the National Library and Archives of Iran, £2000 to study DAISY technology at the Swedish Library of Talking Books and Braille [tpb].
Organisational Awards.
Integrated Documentation System of the Cuyo National University, Mendoza, Argentina [SID;UNCYO], £6250 for the updating and enhancement of their Services for Visually Impaired Persons.
Centro para la Integración y el Desarrollo del Invidente, Lima, Peru [CIDESI], £10,000 for their Assistive Bibliography: Document Accessibility for Blind Students project.
Allan Leach stated “We were delighted to receive so many good bids for this awards programme even if it did make it the most difficult year so far for us to come to our decisions. We are confident that the chosen recipients will make good use of their funding to improve library services for visually impaired people in Europe, Asia and South America. I am particularly pleased to add that, thanks to the generosity of my fellow Ulverscroft Foundation trustees, we have been able to exceed our allocated budget of £20,000 and offer an additional award of £5,000 to the Adaptive Technology Center for the Blind, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia to purchase ICT and Braille paper so that they can access, download and produce Braille versions of copyright free books available via the internet.”
Joyce Sumner, Secretary, Ulverscroft Foundation j.sumner@ulverscroft.co.uk
Jenny Craven, Information Officer IFLA: Libraries for the Blind Sectionction.j.craven@mmu.ac.uk
To view Reports from Award winners
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Joyce Sumner
The Ulverscroft Foundation
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